News
News Categories

This 1,000-core processor can be powered by a single AA battery

By Koh Wanzi - on 24 Jun 2016, 11:57am

This 1,000-core processor can be powered by a single AA battery

Image Source: UC Davis

When it comes to processor cores, is more always better? Engineers at the University of California at Davis have created the world’s first 1,000-core processor, dubbed the KiloCore. Wow. Just wow.

The chip is partially funded by the US Department of Defense and was actually built by IBM on the 32nm fabrication process.

In addition, it is capable of 1.78 trillion instructions per second and contains 621 million transistors. Those of you who keep up with hardware will notice that that’s still fewer transistors than most GPUs today, which also have more “cores” than the KiloCore. In fact, modern GPUs feature massively parallel architectures – which makes them great for things like training deep learning networks – with thousands of cores running at relatively low frequencies. For instance, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 has 2560 CUDA cores with a base speed of just 1,607MHz.

Ultimately, the core achievement of the KiloCore lies in its completely independent cores that can each run independent computer programs. It is effectively what’s known as a multiple instruction, multiple data (MIMD) computer, as opposed to the more common single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) variety.

The difference is that while SIMD machines – like GPUs – implement a single operation across multiple cores, a MIMD can handle multiple different operations at once, and consequently more complex calculations.

Image Source: Baas et al via Motherboard

One – albeit oversimplified – way to think of it is as a room filled with 1,000 computers, says Bevan Baas, the leader of the UC Davis team that developed the KiloCore.

Another key development is the outstanding power efficiency the team achieved. The chip is reportedly 100 times more efficient than a regular laptop processor. To be specific, it dissipates only 0.7 watts while executing 115 billion instructions per second, and can actually be powered by a single AA battery.

Possible applications for the KiloCore include things like large amounts of parallel data processing, video processing, and encryption, but it’s not going to be available on shelves any time soon.

Source: Motherboard

Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.